Great Hotels of the World Reinvents Representation with New Business Model

Designed to help hotels perform better; increase revenues, reduce distribution costs and grow the bottom line

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. September 13, 2012

September 13. 2012 - Great Hotels of the World, part of the Hotel Performance Company, is shaking up the hotel representation industry with the introduction of a new business and pricing model that fundamentally changes the way representation companies operate. (http://www.ghotw.com)

Paul McManus, chairman of Great Hotels of the World's advisory board, comments: “The referral value of representation companies and affinity groups continues to diminish as travelers increasingly book reservations through new and emerging channels. The representation industry must adapt to the realities of today's marketplace in order to remain relevant and to provide real value to their member hotels. The traditional hotel representation model is becoming obsolete.”

The underlying value proposition of Great Hotels' business model is threefold:
• To reduce distribution and representation costs by 30% or more
• To extend its member hotels' marketing and distribution reach across the entire spectrum of electronic distribution channels; the GDS, web, social and mobile platforms
• To simplify rate and content distribution across all channels

Great Hotels' strategy is hotel-centric. It integrates the still relevant elements of traditional representation with customised marketing solutions and it is anchored by evolution, the company's proprietary state-of-the-art technology platform.

Commenting on evolution, Peter Gould, CEO of Great Hotels of the World, says “We saw hotel distribution as a mess of fragmented, disparate technologies and antiquated marketing strategies. We thought that we could do it better, so we set out to simplify distribution. We created evolution, an intuitive, next-generation, cloud-based CRS that streamlines distribution and does 'all your internet stuff in one box'. evolution enables hoteliers to distribute rates and content across all channels including GDS, online, social and mobile from a single screen.”

Great Hotels of the World is the only major representation company that owns its technology, a competitive advantage that it leverages to ensure price leadership. Great Hotels offers several pricing options, including the industry's first subscription-based model wherein one low annual licensing fee covers all sales and marketing services and distribution is free.

“The object of membership in Great Hotels of the World is simple”, says Marshall Calder, the newly appointed managing director of Hotel Performance Company. “It's all about increasing sales for member hotels from all source markets and through all distribution channels, including the hotels' own channels. That is a radical departure from the typical representation company's modus operandi of directing and re-directing reservations through their own channels.”